I've become concerned by recent events where people blame God for their actions. Like the terrorist suicide bombers. They blame God for their plight and actions. They claim to be doing what they do in God's name, but they don't even know how to read the Qur’an for themselves. So they are sacrificing their souls to the demon that guides them. They are emotionally upset at the living conditions that they are forced to endure, they say it is Gods will; but they think it is Gods fault. They convince themselves they have no choice. Yet they look at the wrong source of their troubles, they don't even know enough to ask the right question.
I read a passage where a Muslim deciple was asking their cleric "If we are doing God's will, why does the West prosper and we suffer?" The cleric deceptively told his deciple "Those who are Islamic that have turned away from the ways of Islam are punished. When all Muslims return to the old ways of Islam, then we shall again be favored. Those whom have never known Islam are favored by God because they may one day come to know Islam."
The problem with this is that muslims around the world, including the United States do quite well. Why are they not being punished by God?
Clerics deceitfully manipulate their followers for their own purpose. Demonic in nature. The same can be said for Christians and religious leaders in any faith.
Muslims, Christians, and the Jewish are all living in a world of questionable virtue.
When is a Christian, respectful of God? When is a Christian self serving? When is a Christian demonic? When is a Christian, not a Christian at all? The same can be asked of Muslims.
The Christian faith is a minority in the world. The number of people declared to be Christians who do not believe Jesus is a god outnumber the number of Christians who do believe Jesus is God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: sound familiar?). Yes, to be Christian you must accept Jesus as a god; or simply you are not Christian. Most declared Christians have never read any portion of the Bible and they don't know about any of the basic tenets.
If you don't believe Jesus is a god, then that makes you more Jewish; if you accept more or less the rest of the Bible. Most people who don't believe Jesus is a god are shocked to discover that they have close bonds with the Jewish peoples. That's basically the big difference.
Now include the number of people who are atheist, agnostic, Muslim, Hindu, and all other religious preferences and the number of people who are active Christians (those who specifically believe Jesus is a god) is clearly a minority.
As a minority, Christians do not have the benefit of having overwhelming evidence or evidentiary confidence in their writings. The Bible is like the Qur’an, create enough different vague stories and a person (or demon if they exist) skilled in deception can make any situation in real life seem like it relates to the stories and verses of the Bible and Qur’an. Demons are reported by the Bible as being more intelligent than mankind. There is far more verifiable information available to dispute the relationship between how man wants to fit into Gods will, and how we apparently do fit into the Universe that God commands.
Dinosaurs, ancient skeletons of our ancestors, scientific proof of things that directly contradict the Bible, life on other planets; yes, when we find life in ANY form anywhere other than Earth, this negates a basic tenet of the Bible. Manking is not the center of Gods will, life was created elsewhere, it lived and died without any relationship to mankind. Therefore, all things in the Universe are not for our use as we see fit.
Those who abuse animals no longer have the support of what was considered to be legitimate teachings. The taking of life as outlined in the Ten Commandments again becomes a sin. But people will struggle to shape their beliefs so that they can live an easy life, regardless of what is most likely true.
People are very accustomed to deceiving themselves (overtly lying to themselves) and blaming others if they are proven wrong. People intentionally try to believe in a system of knowledge that is too broad for them to understand, and then attribute their well-being to that body of knowledge, rather than think for themselves.
Standing before God, do you really think that blaming your religious leader for misleading you will absolve your sins? God gave you the Ten Commandments, what allows anyone from defying those laws? If a religious leader told you to steal food from your mother to feed himself, would you? When you commit a sin based upon the teachings of a supposed religious leader, you are feeding your soul to that demon incarnate.
People are self-deceptive in the interest of maintaining simple thoughts for themselves; in the interest of having a life that is comfortable for themselves, even at the expense of other people’s lives. People of all religions are in-general very comfortable with indirect murder. The church supports the actions of a war, indirectly the deciples are supporting the killing of people. The cleric promotes the spreading of Islam at any cost, the deciples indirectly are supporting the killing of people. "Thou shalt not kill", is so simple, yet people are willing to decieve themselves. Having an ethical outlook is not comfortable for most people; they don't even want to learn what ethics are!
Most declared Christians say they are Christians not because Jesus is a god, but because of the Ten Commandments and other social tenets provide for social ethics. Like the Qur’an has social ethics buried within it. The social tenets are frequently commendable and useful; but they have little to do with God's grace. The social tenets could completely be transferred from the Qur’an, Bible, and Torah to a separate non-religious book to provide the basis of ethical social teachings. But within the Qur’an, Bible, and Torah people with weak minds are corrupted by vague stories that contradict the social teachings; deceiving followers to sin in the name of God, direct violations of the Ten Commandments.
Most people want an ethical social system that provides fair treatment of all persons; to include themselves. But people are comfortable with corruption so long as they partially benefit from the spoils.
Why would the Bible contradict itself, in almost every way imaginable? Why would the Qur’an be written as vague passages of verse? There is sufficient vague stories and passages to allow religious leaders (or demons if they exist) to deceptively manipulate followers regarding almost any real world situation.
Given the desire and time I could make yet another book that seemed to tie all of the teachings of the Torah, Bible, and Qur’an into one logical religion. I would be able to explain why Mohammad said that the Qur’an was the last book of revelations and that my Book of the Damned held higher meaning; just like Mohammad did, just like the Christians did. The Torah was the base by which Christians and Muslims owe their roots. The Jewish are the only people still honoring the Torah.
People know the Bible, Qur’an, and Torah are flawed. That is why so many sects have developed. They just haven't been able to pin-point what is wrong. Their parents and their parents before them were victims of a con; a con that has lasted for many centuries.
The Bible is supposedly inspired by God; so is this blog article. This article would not have been written accept by the inspiration provided by God.
Ask someone whom is religious how the documents which characterize their beliefs were written without the influence of mankind, and the most often used response is that it was written while inspired by God. This blog entry is inspired by God and it contradicts the validity of the Bible and Qur’an directly.
So the next response is expected to be that I was not inspired by God. But I just said I was. How can any person say I was not, I am.
The next most common response will be because they have Faith in God. What does that have to do with the Bible or Qur’an? I have faith in God, but my faith does not include the Bible or Qur’an as anything more than tainted historical documents that were poorly written. In the case of the Bible, revised innumerable times, and translated poorly throughout history. Written history extends much further back than the Qur’an, Bible, and Torah. Were the writings inspired by God in the Torah of less value, and of the writings before the Torah?
Declaring a faith does not make you noble or correct. Hopefully it means that you declare to investigate the possibility that your faith has value.
I can provide so much information that supports the existence of the Graviton, that you will accept the existence of the Graviton. But it doesn't make the Graviton a real entity. Your mind can only hold and evaluate a finite amount of information. So long as I have more information available than you can process, then you can not reasonably stand against me. Unless you break down the problem into smaller pieces and evaluate the pieces first separately, than as a whole. In all probability the Graviton is a simplified concept surrounding a complex set of relationships that we have yet to develop the tools to understand. Consider the photon, it has both particle and wave-like properties, but we don't truly understand what it is. God may be a similar complexity. We may not understand today, but we might understand tomorrow.
However, if we plant our feet in a river of mud that has little to do with God, then we prolong the time between ignorance and understanding. Have faith for the right reason, faith is the seed from which to grow a tree. Faith is NOT final knowledge!
The Demonic Con
Basic Tenets of the Con:
- Provide enough detail (whether true or not), and you can convince almost anyone that almost anything is true, even when it is false.
- Confuse logical arguments so that false statements appear to be true.
Providing unsubstantiated detail: Attributing God status to men ( the basic con used by men who want to be attributed as having close ties to God; believe in me or what I say and you shall enjoy Gods graces). In modern times, has any miracle been scientifically documented? There have been thousands of hoaxes revealed. But not one miracle. Very suspicious don't you think?
Perverting Logic: You can find Colorado in Denver! .......... This looks correct doesn't it? ................ The statement was turned around to deceive the reader and is a lie. ....................... But I can convince you that it is true: "Denver is part of the State of Colorado, the State is the ultimate authority over Denver, therefore Colorado is in Denver"........................ The State is an administrative entity and is not all inclusive of the various aspects of Colorado. .......................... "Denver is in Colorado" is a partial truth, but it is much more useful than the intentional deception of "Colorado is in Denver". .................. People that call Denver home frequently travel outside of Denver. ....................... Property belonging to the City of Denver is stolen and taken outside of the State. ...................... Truth is much more complex than a simple story or verse. As you can see even the simplest of concepts can be twisted to show agreement (or disagreement) with a statement. That is what corrupt religious leaders do (or demons if they exist). They twist verse to feed their greed for power and money, and perhaps the taking of their followers' souls.
Should religious leaders who do not consistently interpret the Bible, Qur'an, and Torah be put to death as demons? I don't think so. Demons would have to exist for that relationship to exist.
I personally know of a Preacher that brags about how his congregation provides for his housing, vehicle, and money. This same Preacher does not pay his own debts; running and hiding from people he owes. Potentially, a demon incarnate.
Promoting the Apocalypse for the Wrong Reasons
A God of omnipotent power could answer each and every prayer, without effort, before the prayer was asked. So God obviously chooses differently. We may be a low priority in God's world. If there are other life forms in the Universe, we may be akin to bacteria. At some point we may become a nuisance and be eradicated. Extinction events have occurred before; multiple times. Super volcano eruptions, asteroid strikes, and solar explosions have wiped out the dominant species on Earth many times before, and it will happen again; actually we are overdue when you look at the spacing of such historical occurrences.
If you want to wait for an apocalypse, one naturally occurs periodically. There are many people who want to encourage an apocalyptic event because they want to ascend; even if they are unworthy of ascension. But as with the year 2000, time came and went and no religious event came to pass that was of any significance.
We have the resources and intellect available to avert any apocalypse. But we don't prepare to do so. Because people are hoping that God will take the believers into an eternal afterlife before destroying the rest of God's creations. Greedy, self centered, corrupt people who do not deserve such grace before God! If there is a Hell, I suspect these creatures will feel at home in the corruption of Hell. Meanwhile, those persons whom are actively trying to save humanity from itself are ridiculed. Scientists are chastized because of their forward thinking; not because it is illogical, but because it confuses the issues of religious beliefs.
The Bible says human life will end in a fiery apocalypse. If a super-volcano erupts or a large asteroid strikes the Earth like it has in the past, we will freeze and starve to death. Why aren't we preparing against such a catastrophe, it has happened before, we are chronologically overdue. If the magnetic field of the Earth flips as it periodically does, the Suns solar winds will kill virtually all crops and people will starve to death. The solar winds won't incinerate us, they will just make life difficult and billions of people will die; this type of event is also overdue. So why aren't we actively trying to avert these apocalyptic events? The same reasons why we don't use our minds and resources related to religion.
More Proof of Corrupted Text
In the Torah and Bible, supposedly, God created the heavens and the Earth in six days, and on the seventh was a day of rest. Then God can not be omnipotent, there would not be a need to rest otherwise. If God is not omnipotent that means its powers are limited. In what ways are they limited?
Strong evidence shows that the Earth rotated many times faster than it currently does, and also more slowly as well. The equivalent of 540 days 1.3 billion years ago and currently the Earth rotates at about 365.23 days and slows down by about 0.0024 seconds every century. According to a scholar of the Bible, related to the lifetimes of all persons mentioned in the Bible, Adam and Eve were conceived by God a little over 6,000 years ago. Skeletons of people have been found much older than that; contradiction after contradiction. The Ten Commandments made no such claims; only the writings of men provided such uninformed rhetoric (Bible, Qur’an, and Torah).
There is no mechanism where a person can know the intentions of God. People choose to believe what they want to believe, not what God intends. Being inspired by God is simply like being inspired by the stock market; useful for discovery, but not a basis for truth.
Dishonoring God - Destroying God's Creations
Does it make any sense that God would create the heavens and the Earth, with a broad diversity of life, just to have us destroy Gods creations? We have, we are, and we will continue to do so. We have already destroyed over 1/2 of all of Gods creations in the forms of plants and animals. Scientists estimate that between 1/3 and 1/2 of the remaining species will near extinction within the next 50 years. Eventually we will likely kill all naturally occurring species of plants and animals. How disrespectful, ignorant, and loathsome towards God.
Perhaps God just planted the seedling of the Universe and the Universe simply follows a set of physical guidelines. Maybe life evolved without Gods help, Gods intention to study the interrelationships like a scientist. When finished, God may choose to wipe out the Universe and start anew with its next experiment. This is just as likely as that which was proposed by the Bible.
Within a few thousand years we will likely be able to do the same thing ourselves. Create an empty dimension and introduce the seed of a quantum singularity. Shape the initial expansion and see what happens. To the beings that form in that reality we will appear to be gods, the beings within that reality won't know any difference. Until they themselves create an empty dimension and initiate a quantum singularity and shape the initial expansion. We are not gods, we are just thinking organisms with strong curiousity and resourcefulness. Hopefully when those life forms are capable, we will introduce ourselves to them in a useful way.
Hopefully, God will one day let its presence be known again to all peoples. But until then, we should not be disrespectful of the diversity that God created. Such is my opinion.
If a being introduced itself to us as a god, would we know any difference? Everything we know about technology has evolved over a few thousand years. Imagine a species that is a million years older than our own. The walkie-talkie would be magic to people 200 years ago, and the users might even be put to death for witchcraft. Mankind is already working on a type of nuclear power that we could use to maintain our dying Sun, to move planets, to power life anywhere. Imagine the technologies that will be available in a few thousand years!
Currently conceived is the potential to communicate instantaneously anywhere in the Universe. All people's minds are linked together. When will it be possible to hear each others prayers and help to provide for each others' needs and desires?
Tempering Faith with what you Learn and Experience
I don't have a problem with a religious person actively pursuing knowledge in their beliefs; I respect those people who try to actively learn about aspects of their beliefs; of their faith. But I strongly oppose any person who claims righteousness based upon what they have been told, and not based upon what they have learned for themselves. But then, related to God, what can you possibly learn for yourself?
I have personal experience with some apparent paranormal situations; unusual occurrences of coincidence. So based upon these experiences I believe that in some way all peoples' minds are linked together. That would explain to a large degree that which has coincidentally happened within my life. Why don't I attribute it to God? Because my concept is a simpler solution; why raise the complexity of something that happens outside of immediate potential reality? God already gets blamed for too much.
Destruction is easy, Creativity is difficult. To care for Gods creations would seem to be a great start in glorifying God. Destroying Gods creations seems to be a slap in the face, so to speak.
People use all sorts of arguments to denounce alternative perspectives, different than what they choose to have faith in. Not because their perspectives are arguably stronger, but because they have no other apparent choice. That is the problem with faith, when bad things happen, God is the cause. When good things happen, you were rewarded for your faith. Meanwhile, all the people around you that have greatly different beliefs and perspectives all share in the same benefits and detriments. Whose faith was rewarded?
Just because the affluent have a particular faith does not mean they are being rewarded. No single faith has consistently been affluent.
I am critical of people who simply "choose" to disregard the flaws in their own arguments. Rather than look for alternative perspectives, they commit fraud by holding onto the beliefs forced upon them; or worse, adopt a set of beliefs because it is popular. Then they lay back and be critical of everyone else; how convenient for them.
A person who speaks out based upon what their Preacher/Priest/Minister/Cleric/Wizard tells them, is no better than the terrorist who commits suicide in the name of God. Neither knows more about God when they die, than they did when they were born; yet they claim righteousness. In extreme cases they commit murder in the name of God, a direct contradiction to the only words God ever provided to mankind. A direct contradiction to the diversity God created.
Even many devout Christians don't believe in the teachings of God. The Ten Commandments are the ONLY words directly written by God. The Torah, Bible, and Qur’an are the works of men, not God. The Ten Commandments clearly state, "Thou shalt not revere any idol before me". The Christians, Jews, and Muslims all revere the Torah, Bible, and Qur’an before the "Ten Commandments". "Thou shalt not kill" is very direct and very clear. Yet men write in these works that there are exceptions to the words that God gave them, like God didn't know what it was doing in writing the Ten Commandments. People respect the words of men before they revere the works of God. Men preach that they better understand the works of God, more than others. They proclaim to be inspired by God. What portion of "Thou shalt not speak in thy name" escapes such an enlightened person?
There have been more than a few mass murderers who have claimed to have been inspired by God. Is being inspired a legitimate reason to force others to bend to your will? You have no legitimate tool to allow you to take into consideration the far reaching consequences of your actions.
Where will Faith take you?
The Universe is made up of extraordinarily large amounts of material, life exists I'm sure elsewhere or the heavens would be a tremendous waste. If we are meant to go forth and prosper beyond the Earth and seek the heavens as home, I would say we are a bit behind schedule. At 6.7 Billion people, we are nearing our capacity to produce food. Within 2 peoples lifetimes the population could grow to 670 Billion people (based on past trends). We either make the heavens our home, or the Earth becomes hell. People killing each other for food here on Earth. Or helping each other in space.
More Contradictions
God knows all for all time; that is what omnipotent implies. So if Jesus is Gods son, God knew in advance all interactions related to its son. Since God is a part of all of us, knowing of all our thoughts, there would be no need to have a son living on the Earth; in strict terms, we are all the sons and daughters of God, Jesus would not have been any more special. What quality could God want to experience that Jesus could have provided, that any person on Earth could not provide? Certainly there have been many thousands of people born who have lived virtuous lives. Further, with God's omnipotent power, God would have included all the commandments necessary to insure the accuracy of the Torah, Bible, and Qur’an. What part of these contradictions do you accept as legitimate? Why do you accept these contradictions?
Okay, so there is a direct contradiction between the Ten Commandments and the Bible. So the Bible is either a fallacy, it has partial truths, or it is beyond our comprehension. If it is beyond our comprehension or a fallacy, it is useless. So if it has partial truths, then the false statements were made by men, or even perhaps by influence of the devil, or demons.
If there is a devil, it has been very successful in leading people away from God. People have learned to trust men over trusting the words of God; the Ten Commandments.
The Qur’an is based upon the Bible and Torah, the Bible and Torah are based on the Ten Commandments. The Bible and Torah directly conflict with the Ten Commandments. The Qur’an, Bible, and Torah are fallacies written by men.
But then this is only my opinion. I feel pity for people who give their souls freely to people (demons) claiming to speak in Gods name: unthinking people, criminals, pawns of demonic bidding, people wanting to do what is right but destructive nonetheless; all repeatedly prophesized throughout history. "Thou shalt not speak in thy name". "Thou shalt not kill." "Thou shalt not revere any idol before me."
Separation of Church and State
Such is part of the reasoning why I believe that religion should be separated from Government. The majority of religious followers are Pagan. People who do not strictly believe in their organized religious faiths are pagan. So pagans should influence the government the most don't you think? Actually, I believe Government should address the greatest and broadest good for all people, for all time.
The United States was founded on Freedom of Religion, NOT Christianity. Indeed, the founders of our nation were NOT Christians. Washington was a Deist, others Universalists, ... John Adams actually cited Christianity as being the bane of civilization.
"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/summer97/secular.html
I think that ALL forms of corruption should be eliminated in Government. I think that ALL special interests that do not apply to everyone should be removed from every country's Government. Ethical consideration should be the only considerations that apply, ethical considerations are only superficially entrenched in religion. Religious institutions created the study of ethics. There are plenty of issues to keep Governments busy without squandering national resources on special interests.
Ethics
Ethics has nothing to do with what is right or wrong. Ethics is a system of tools to evaluate the consequences of a proposed plan of action. So why aren't ethics taught in school? Why would leaders not want the people to think ethically? Ethical tools provide people with the means to discover corrupt practices and statements. Politicians have much greater difficulty manipulating public opinion, a much greater difficulty in deceiving the public. Corrupt Churches do not want ethics taught, because it allows the public to see the fallacies of their teachings. However, ethics is taught by legitimate religious institutions.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/files/SAM-EthicalReasoning2005.pdf
Do not confuse morals with ethics. Morals are specific to a theological system, legal system, social system, or any system where guidelines are desired. Ethics are the tools for evaluating a system of information to achieve a desired consequence. Ethics crosses over all boundaries of systems to be considered. Morals must reside inside a system to be useful, which is why religious morals conflict occasionally with legal and social morals.
Faith should lead to Coincident Reasoning
Faith is a useful concept to visualize a starting point, a seed of knowledge. But you were given a brain to think and grow. Are you worthy of God's gift? Or are you the instrument of the Devil? Figure that out for yourself, just do not lie to yourself; when you come across a concept you do not understand, remember it and keep thinking. The world is filled with concepts we may never understand. But now and then, conditions seem to be coincident and we gain a little more understanding. No where in the Ten Commandments does it say you should have faith. So without faith, you are expected to discover the consequences of the Ten Commandments for yourself. Not through deed, but through thought!
Just my opinion
No where in the Ten Commandments does it say what the consequences are for sinning. Consequences were created by man. However, if you respect God, you would think you would respect the Ten Commandments. Note also, no where in the Ten Commandments does it say that God will forgive you for your sins. Being forgiven for your sins is also the words of men, not God. You can play with words however you choose, and explain anything regarding any subject if you have just a few seemingly related passages. But they are the symptom of self deception. The root of self deception is faith in a subject you do not understand, and irrationally basing consequences in your life on that faith; irrational circular logic.
The Greed of Muslims, Christians, and Jewish Peoples
Christians are supposed to lack greed and be charitable. Yet they are so greedy that they expect God to provide them with eternal afterlife, after they repeatedly and intentionally violate the Ten Commandments. Personally, I am so grateful to God for all that it has provided, I would not wish to encumber God for all eternity to take care of my personal needs. How worthy are people to be in the grace of God, if they show God such disrespect?
I personally would like to live long enough to help promote diversity of life throughout the Universe. Myself a tool of creation. I don't need to die for such ambition. But likely this will not come to pass. Regardless, I do not want to have an unproductive eternal afterlife.
The Ten Commandments are always put aside in favor of the Qur’an, Bible, or Torah. Without the Ten Commandments, none of these writings have any value or virtue. Yet people revere the Qur’an, Bible, and Torah above the Ten Commandments.
People want to believe they will be forgiven for their sins, that they choose their actions because it was done in Gods name, or they had no other choice. That they can sin and God will forgive them. But the writings of men are not the will of God and men will not save their souls.
The Qur’an, Bible, and Torah are so contradictive that they can be easily made to say anything regarding any situation. The same passages can make one person evil, and another person just. Only a weak mind declares Faith in vague interpretations. If you have a weak mind, then do not condemn others for their beliefs; they are no better or worse off than yourself.
The Con Artist masquerading as a Religious Leader
Some religious leaders truly believe in what they do. The con artist acting as a religious leader uses the legitimate religious leaders to associate their own legitimacy. They may even detrimentally influence the legitimate religious leader into unethical practices, unrealized by the legitimate religious leader. However, there are far more con artists acting as religious leaders, then there are legitimate religious leaders.
- Con Artists seek out the needy, yet affluent; you know it when a carrot is dangled in front of your face.
- Con Artists are successful because people are basically corruptible; the enlightened only less corruptible.
- Con Artists are very aware of how to manipulate you through Pride, Ego, Anxiety, Ignorance, Ageing, Youth, Dreams, Security, Insecurity, Fear, Greed, Loneliness, Popularity, Assumed knowledge, Success, Failure, Illness, Self-Confidence, Desperation, Vulnerability, Ambition, Laziness, apparent Authority, ...
How one of the Cons works:
- Locate the needy; the "mark". The con man or someone under their influence contacts you.
- Gain the "mark's" confidence by associating social tenets with a person; Jesus in this case.
- Steer the "mark" to meet the insideman; the religious leader.
- Permit the insideman (religious leader) to show you how you can personally gain; "appealing" to your greed and corruptible nature.
- Provide the "mark" with a substantial benefit; social activities with other people, potential to live forever.
- The insideman (religious leader) sizes "mark" up, learning how much they can get from the "mark"; money, pulling more people in, suicide bombing, ..
- The insideman (religious leader) or their associate sends their "marks" on missions to reap tangible benefit for the insideman (religious leader); get money, more patronage, coercive activities, attack public figures, gain affluence through association, spread their influence, a cycle to attain more money and power.
- The religious leader plays the "mark" against the big payoff (eternal afterlife); stealing the soul of the "mark" for their own benefit.
- Association is quiet and when the "mark's" usefulness is finished, they are cast out quietly. Through shunning, setting up cliques to exclude the less affluent, manipulating the less affluent into a work force until they find other resources for the clergy to abuse, or the mark "chooses" to leave quietly.
The "mark" is made to believe that giving of all worldly goods is of their choosing and for their benefit. If I hold a gun to your head and tell you to give me your money and you do so, that is of your choosing also. But religious leaders instill fear into their "marks" to coerce money and resources using religion as a tool to do the same thing; be part of the group or maybe you should leave, give or die, give or sacrifice your eternal afterlife.
Questions a con artist (religious leader) will dodge (redirect to another subject or provide unrelated information):
What formal religious associations do you have with the leaders of our sect (Presbyterian, Shiite ...)?
What is the contact information for their religious leader associates?
May I see your Bible, Qur’an, Torah? (then carefully read their notes and what passages they stay away from)
Reverend, Preacher, Cleric so and so is visiting our community, would you mind going with me to meet them?
What religious agencies are you registered with?
What sort of references can you provide?
Can you give me addresses where I can visit your previous work?
Do you mind if I record your sermon and get a second opinion from other clergy?
May I call other clergy about that?
Do you mind if I check with the local authorities about your character references?
May I have your drivers license information?
Do you mind if I call the Credit and Tenant Bureaus to help me verify your character?
Do you maintain a financially viable income for yourself, outside of the church?
How much have you contributed to the church/monestary/temple/... financially?
What authority allows you to interpret the words of God for me?
The Reason why I wrote this Article
People are irresponsible; they attribute all that is bad to someone or something else. People indirectly blame God for everything bad that happens.
This is a test God has for me.
God made this happen and it's beyond my control.
Who am I to do anything different than God intends.
If God had intended ....... God would have provided .......
I can do whatever I want, God will forgive me.
I am a good person, God will forgive my sins. (even though the same person does nothing to protect God's creations)
I am a simple person, God will forgive my ignorance.
God, this, God that. God made people responsible when God gave them a brain capable of thinking about complex issues! God speaks to people all the time through opportunities.
You've heard the one about the man and the flood?
A man watches TV and the newscaster says heavy rains are coming that will cause extensive flooding of the mans' town. The man thinks "God will provide".
The man watches as his neighbors are leaving. The neighbor exclaims "Grab your things and come with us, we have room". The man says "Thank you no, God will provide".
The rains come and flooding is up to the roofs of cars; the man is wading in water on his porch. A person in a power boat comes to the mans rescue "Get what is important and get in". The man says "Thank you no, God will provide". The power boat leaves to help someone else.
The man must climb onto his roof to stay out of the water. A helicopter sees him and comes to assist "Put on the harness and we will take you to safety". The man replies "Trust in God, God will provide". The helicopter leaves to help others.
The flooding continues and the man drowns. He is standing before God and is thoroughly confused "God, I have been a virtuous follower all of my life, why did you not save me?" God says "I gave you warning and provided three opportunities to save yourself. No man should have more."
Epitaph of this Article
This article is truly inspired by God, but more importantly, I hope your thoughts are inspired by Gods gifts to you. Gods gifts to you to have and use empathy, your ability to love, and most importantly your ability to think !
I find it interesting that there is no name for people who believe in God, that are not part of an organized religious system of faith. I do not fear God, so I am not God Fearing. Am I to be considered Pagan?
I am respectful of God, to the point of questioning all people wanting to push their blind faith upon me.
So what am I?
